The Milltown Garden Patch garden offers 5'x10', 10'x10' or '10x20" garden beds to residents for a nominal fee which will include membership in the Milltown Garden Patch. Our garden is organic, which means that we do not allow the use of chemical pesticides, fertilizers, or weed killers. We will strive to create an environment in which members will not only experience the joys of growing their own food, but also create an atmosphere which will foster a sense helping one another in our individual organic gardening endeavors. Members will have an opportunity to learn from one another anything from general gardening tips and nutrition to seed selection and environmentally safe pest control.

What started out as an idea while drinking coffee and looking through seed catalogues on a winter dayin 2009 by our founder Billy Izzard, the Milltown Garden Patch has become a quest to change our community.

April 2011 aerial view of Milltown Garden Patch
Photo courtesy of Gary Matson

Click on photo view larger version

In the Spring of 2009, when we first approached the Milltown Water Users Association about gardening on the property owned by the association, we couldn't have imagined that we would be given use such a large portion of the property for our use. It was then that the concept of growing a pumpkin patch and a "community donation garden" in addition to offering individual garden plots became a reality.

The pumpkin patch and "community donation garden" both serve as a community based projects which will give back to the community. Both of these gardens are worked on collectively by the members of the Milltown Garden Patch, as well as non-members, who are interested in participating. Those involved will be responsible for planting, weeding and maintaining these gardens. Vegetables harvested from the "community donation garden" will be donated to the Missoula Food Bank.

Due to a rough gardening year in 2010 (with a bad crop of pumpkins & squash!) our 1st annual pumpkin sale will take place in October 2011, the proceeds of which will be given back to the community through a variety of educational programs: buying books for local students, creating a scholarship fund or assisting a local 4H program. It is our hope that this annual event will become a tradition for local families interested in picking their own organically grown pumpkin right from the field. As this annual pumpkin sale grows from year to year, we can envision it becoming an event filled with community involvement including local artists, musicians and food vendors.

As a brand new organization there is always a need for volunteers to help out with a multitude of tasks. We encourage those interested in becoming members to contact us now and help us build this organization from the ground up (we couldn’t resist!). We are currently working on community outreach, membership, collecting donations of all kinds from soil to tools, grant writing, land preparation for the next season and so much more.